Web Accessibility: Make Your Site Accessible to the Blind
Setting up a new business? Starting a new blog? Get clued up on web accessibility first...
We set up our blog with the intention of providing valuable insights into the world of audio description and accessibility. So it wouldn't be a great look if we failed to practice what we preach. Before starting the blog, we did our homework on web accessibility and the key points to bear in mind to accommodate blind and visually-impaired visitors to your site.
Web accessibility means designing websites in a way that doesn't prevent anyone from being able to use them.
In other words, any visitor should be able to access and use your site, regardless of any disabilities and impairments.
Around 15% of the world's population has some sort of disability.
And over two-thirds of people in this category will leave a website if they find it inaccessible.
So no matter how fantastic you feel your services, product or content might be, an inaccessible website is going alienate a lot of visitors and make them want to click away. What guidelines are out there to help us?To help people and companies setting up websites, there are various sets of guidelines for reviewing web design and usability.
For example, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) defines several levels of accessibility, including minimum thresholds that are considered acceptable.
Laws and regulations also need to be considered, since accessibility is a legal matter.
But don't start despairing just yet – we've drawn up a few easy-to-follow steps to make your site more accessible and increase your potential readership.